Friday, December 6, 2013

Nobody's Perfect by Paul D.Marks

My 2013 Shamus Award-Winning novel White Heat is an intense mystery thriller that begins where the “Rodney
King” riots leave off. The main character, Duke Rogers, is a former Navy SEAL
turned PI – a tough guy with a tarnished soul and a big heart.

Duke finds himself in a combustible situation in this
racially charged thriller. His case might have to wait... The immediate
problem: getting out of South Central Los Angeles in one piece during the 1992 “Rodney
King” riots and that’s just the beginning of his problems.

While Duke tracks down the killer he must also deal with the
racism of his partner, Jack, and from Warren, the murder victim’s brother. He
must also confront his own possible latent racism – even as he’s in an
interracial relationship with the dead woman’s sister, Rita.

Duke and his partner Jack, as well as most of the other
characters in the novel, are definitely flawed and imperfect. Duke’s actions on
a case inadvertently lead to the death of a young black actress. And his guilt
in her death sets the plot in motion and eventually threatens the nascent
interracial romance between Duke and Rita.

And though I wrote White
Heat as an exciting, fast-paced mystery-thriller, what really interests me
are the characters. I like flawed characters and I like characters that develop
as the plot progresses. And I don’t think they have to be totally sympathetic
for people to identify with them.

Duke is a flawed hero, but still he’s a man that I think we
all want to be or at least identify with in some ways. His partner Jack is an
outright racist, who voices things that many people probably think but are
afraid to say. Still, when push comes to shove, Jack is the kind of person who
often says the wrong thing, but always does the right thing.

I thought people would have an issue with Jack in
particular, but they actually seem to like to him. Why? Are they all racists or
latent racists – I don’t think so. I think the reason is that we all have
flaws, weaknesses, shortcomings and prejudices – and we also all have people in
our lives who have faults, big and little, but who are still basically good
people. The world is not always black and white, good and evil, right and
wrong, and this is one of the things that I try to portray in White Heat and my other writings.

I look at Duke and Jack as opposite sides of the same coin,
the cartoon Devil and Angel on the characters’ shoulders. But when push comes
to shove, when they are tested, what will they do?

The spark for White
Heat – and I’m not sure if that pun was intended or not – of course comes
from the 1992 “Rodney King” riots. When the riots broke out I was living in
L.A. and you could see and smell the smoke from pretty much any part of the
city. The police were AWOL much of the time in many places. Reginald Denny was
yanked from his truck and beaten. People were scared, hunkering down in their
homes. They were buying guns. Waiting for it all to end.

I wanted to write something about the riots. But I didn’t
want to do a morality play. I come from a screenwriting background which is
very audience/entertainment oriented, so I wanted to do something that would be
entertaining and also deal with hard-hitting underlying themes, while portraying
people and incidents in a realistic way – flaws and all.

I hope flawed characters set against a realistic and tense
background intrigues you. And Duke and Jack will be back in the sequel Broken Windows sometime in the
(hopefully) near future.

Thank you, Jean, and your readers, for having me.

-------------------------

Paul D. Marks pulled a gun on the LAPD...and lived to tell
about. A former "script doctor," Paul's novel WHITE HEAT is a 2013 SHAMUS AWARD
WINNER. Publishers Weekly calls WHITE HEAT a "taut crime yarn." Paul is also
the author of over thirty published short stories in a variety of genres,
including several award winners. And he has the distinction, dubious though it
might be, of having been the last person to film on the fabled MGM backlot
before it bit the dust to make way for condos. According to Steven Bingen
According to Steven Bingen, one of the authors of the recent, well-received book
MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot: “That 40 page chronological list I mentioned
of films shot at the studio ends with his [Paul D. Marks’] name on it.”. You can learn more about Paul at: www.PaulDMarks.com as well as:

13 comments:

As someone who was also in LA during the riots - I can promise you this book will not only give you a taste of what people went through - but you'll also be rooting for Duke all the way thought. Great book - great writer.

Great topic for a post Paul. I too found that I really liked Jack, but I couldn't figure out why. One reason I liked him was his consistency. He wasn't racked with doubt. He had his own, clear sense of right and wrong, and he acted based on it. His actions, as you noted, tented to be right. It was his words that were flawed.

I just finished White Heat and loved it, for many of the reasons the author mentions in this article. I'm always interested in novels with flawed characters, and I'm also fascinated to hear an author's insight on his or her work. Thanks to Paul Marks, and Mysterious Writers for the post.

A very interesting character discussion, Paul! We all have flaws, and it does give a protagonist more dimensions, more humanity. Excellent points, and it's great how you tied in a bit of history (something I enjoy doing myself) -- in particular, an event that you lived through! :)

Hi Lori, I agree that characters having flaws gives them more dimension and makes them more real. And I did like tying in the history angle. It was a challenge to write in some ways, but a good one and I enjoyued it. Thanks for your comments. -- Paul

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About Me

The author of 20 books began her career as a news reporter, later serving as a news, magazine and small press editor. She's also a national award-winning photojournalist whose magazine articles have won state, regional and national awards and have appeared domestically as well as abroad.